Spring Break 2013 - Xierra visits Chicago

As much as I hated leaving Winnipeg after my brief visit, I was super excited to get back to Chicago with Xierra, to spend Spring Break with her.  We only had a week, so we crammed as much 'awesomeness' into it as humanly possible.  Here's a summary:

Last time we flew together, just the two of us, was when she was 2.5 years old!

We love breakfast!  Especially when the pancakes are shaped like Mickey Mouse!

Brought the kids (and grandma and grandpa) to Monkey Joe's for some bouncy fun with friends

Visited the Kohl's Children's museum -- this was Xierra's second time going, but Xander's first.  Fun when you're 2... but still fun when you're 9!

One of Xierra's pre-vacation requests was to eat at an "Authentic Italian Restaurant" -- so that she could order "Fettuccini Alfredo, with Spaghetti noodles"... um.. okay.

Spring Break landed on the week of Easter, so what better way to get the kids excited than to decorate Easter eggs! Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to host the egg dyeing party.  Look at these gems:

And her visit wouldn't have been complete if she didn't get a chance to see the rest of the Schmid family -- Easter brunch at our Aunt Jennie's house was delightful and delicious

a rare family photo

We went up to Milwaukee for a couple of days, to hang out with Brian during the week -- did some swimming, brought the kids to the movies, did some shopping, made some crafts at the hotel and Xierra discovered Culver's -- which is now in her top 5 favourite places to eat (that darned grilled cheese sandwich is just soooo goooood)

At the Fox Bay Cinema -- super oldschool theatre with table service.  The kids loved it :)

Braved the crowd on the Easter long weekend, and brought the kids to Legoland in Schaumburg.  Such a cool place but it was crowded as hell.. Whelp, at least the KIDS had fun..

The last hoorah consisted of a one-night-stay at Key Lime Cove -- a hotel -slash- indoor water park -slash- resort.  Whatever you want to call it, it was effin awesome, and I'm so glad we did it

Hey! We know you!  We just saw you at Walmart a couple of days ago!

Water slide fun!

Our sweet family photo

A final visit to Nibbles Café for some breakfast, before the little diva and I headed to airport for her drop-off

Big sibling hugs xoxo

This was Xierra's first time flying as an unaccompanied minor, so we made sure to get to the airport SUPER early to take care of the extra paperwork that's involved.

She did perfectly fine on her flight back - the airline took really good care of her.  What a brave girl :)

It was so much fun hanging out with my little Yaya Monster for her Spring Break.. but a week just wasn't quite long enough!